From $13 Billion to Federal Prison: Steve Keller’s Warning About Pay-to-Play Politics

What is pay-to-play politics — and how much does it cost to be heard in Washington?

In this episode of The Brief: Insights From The Inside, Shabbos Kestenbaum sits down with Stephen Keller, former financial CEO, author of Pay to Play: Political Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Cost of the American Dream, and co-founder of the Justice Restoration Foundation.

Keller tells the story of how he went from building a multibillion-dollar life settlements business to becoming the target of a federal prosecution he says was driven by powerful insurance interests, political access, and a broken pay-to-play system. He explains why he believes corporate lobbying, PAC money, and political influence have distorted how laws are written — and why ordinary citizens and entrepreneurs often cannot compete without money and connections.